Almost done with Field Based Training!

These past few days have been exciting. Besides finding out what I’ll be doing we had some fun last week. Wednesday night the mayor invited us to his house for a couple hours so we did a little talent show, made hot chocolate and enjoyed ourselves. He wants to invite us back for a longer evening (we were there for less than 3hrs) and said he’d make carne asada for us. Then Thursday we had a mental health break and got to leave Talanga for the majority of the day. We went to the next region over called Olancho to a town where we had Spanish “outside of class” in this little cabaña place that had a restaurant and a pool. All the teachers came and we played games and activities that made us use our Spanish but after that we had our free time to eat lunch, use the pool and just relax. Friday when we got out of Spanish class in the afternoon there was a Peace March starting so we joined in the with Catholic missionaries that are here (and our age) and marched to the park. There’s a whole campaign promoting peace and to stop the violence against children that the Catholic Church is put on throughout the weekend so it was pretty interesting.

I was kinda sad and bummed out a few weekends ago…just sitting around being bored and having too much time to think, but I’m feeling better. We’re into the 9th week of training and I’m ready to be about done! The last week or two we’ve gotten a lot busier with Spanish and doing things out in the community. We have school projects we’re I’m working in an aldea school just doing some activities and charlas (talks/workshops). So we went three times last week and we go three times this week…which is a lot of hours! My group was stressing out b/c the teachers asked us to give a charla about sex education…but I think it went rather well…especially seeing that it was for 4th-6th grades. We broke them into 4 groups and had 4 different, but related, topics and they spent about 30mins with each of us. I was surprised at how well behaved they were! Especially since when I was in the 4th & 6th grade classroom (they’re combined) on Monday it didn’t go so well. All the kiddos were really respectful, didn’t make jokes and didn’t even complain when we went past their recess/snack time! I took on the task of doing masculine and feminine anatomy…whoo…but it went really well. A little hard for the 4th grade to understand, but I made it interactive enough that they were at least able to get a little something out of it. Today we’re meeting the parents at the school to talk about what we’ve been doing with their kiddos and maybe give a little parenting advice. Tomorrow is the last morning at the school and I must say that I am a little relieved…a lot of times I feel like we’re wasting their time and ours by being there.

Things are wrapping up in Talanga. Monday is our last day here…we go back to Zarabanda/Las Cañadas on Tuesday morning, but we won’t even be spending my time there. We get back to our first host families house to freshen up…then go to the training center to meet our new counterparts (or at least a few). We’re supposed to have lunch and dinner with them. Then Wednesday morning we travel with our counterparts to our new site for the rest of the week. We return on Sunday to Zarabanda and finish with 2 more weeks of training…then on the 26th of September I will be sworn in as an official Peace Corps Volunteer!

What will I be doing for 2 years in Honduras????

I found out my main counterparts and the projects they’d like me to be doing! I’m really excited…sounds like I won’t have a lack of things to do. Here they are:

1. Riecken Library: Here´s their website...They have a lot of programs at this site including teen clubs, early literacy and reading programs and a mobile library—my first thought was a bookmobile. But no—it’s literally the librarian walking out to the aldeas (little tiny, smaller than villages places where people live) with books to read to the kiddos. They also have baseball equipment and would like to start a team, so I can do that if I want to. AND an exciting perk with this particular type of library is that they use satellite internet…which means that not only will I have internet access in my site…I probably won’t have to ever pay to use it somewhere else. I might just have to find a house to rent within a few hundred yards of the library! ;o)
2. High School (Colegio in Spanish): My main counterpart here would be the counselors working on improving their programs concerning reproductive health, values, self-esteem, etc. That whole slew of workshops that they give dealing with all things related. The colegio also said that it’s possible to get involved in their sports teams if I was interested.
3. Catholic Church: Most people are afraid of working with a religious organization…and I had my preconceived notions, but I’m actually more okay with it than some people. And what this church does is really unique. The current (newish) priest is apparently really young and active and involved in the community. So there’s a building attached to the church where there’s room for some of the HS youth to stay during the week in order to attend school. The youth that are there are from really poor families out in the aldeas. They have a small screen printing business and would like help improving that or coming up with other small business ideas in order to generate more funds to be able to provide housing for more students. They are aware that we’re Youth Development volunteers and not Business or Municipal Development and don’t have much (or any) business skills, but they’d still like to see how we can work something out. The main thing at the church would be working with the youth on afterschool activities and doing some workshops on self-esteem, life skills, etc.
4. Centro Básico: This is a school that serves 1st-9th grade out in an aldea with about 300 students total, so a good sized school. It also has Kinder, which I can get involved in but I’m not obligated to. It sounded like they wouldn’t be one of my main counterparts, but would be excited for anything I could do. They’re open to a lot of things and would appreciate any time I could spend there. One thing they definitely wanted was to start a school garden and teach kids (parents?) how to have a home garden. Other projects they mentioned was parenting school, English with the teachers, environmental education, sports and dental hygiene. It sounds like if I wanted there’s a lot I could do there! The only drawback is that it’s not right in town. I was told it’s about an hour walk one way…but on the bright side they told me the walk has great views. And they did mention it would be about 30 mins on a bike…which is good news. Because of funding cuts, not everyone that wants a bike will get one paid for anymore. Volunteers that needed one for transportation were able to ask for the funds…now its being more limited based on real need. So it sounds like they’ll be buying me one!
5. Health Center: Lastly…a health center! Which I’m excited to work with…I was hoping to be tied to one somehow. They want me to start a Pregnant Women’s Club (I was told that most would be adolescents). They’d really like me to do more than just prenatal health, etc…especially since these women are more than likely pretty young. They’d like to see some sort of activities that would be fun and encourage the mothers to still do things that are fun and they like…that just because they’re pregnant/a mom doesn’t mean they can’t enjoy things. My other though is some sort of crafts like t-shirt making, jewelry, maybe some sort of knitting/sewing/handicraft something. I heard of another volunteer that started a women’s exercise club, which would be good to do some sport of physical activity with them…then have a club for after the babies are born. I can imagine how they feel about their bodies afterwards, so it would be a really cool thing to do.

I’m pretty excited by the sounds of things. I didn’t get much more information nor did I bother to ask. I figure I’ll find out in a few more days. Other people dug for information about what part of the country, if it’s a big or small site, how far away is the closest volunteer and/or city, etc. I’m not too worried about that stuff…I’m just glad to know what I’ll be doing. It also helps prevent me from trying to guess where I’m going; then be wrong. There’s already been one person who had convinced herself that she would be in the west up in the mountains. Another was sure that she was going to a certain site…then I got some info from the volunteer I visited last month and it’s not. As I was telling her the first person was in the car with me and realized it was her counterparts and job descriptions…so both were a little upset b/c they had their minds set on these other places. Some people have a pretty good idea between the description, counterparts and talking with current volunteers and are able figure it out. I welcome the surprise on Monday.